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New Jersey and Union County Election Tallies

In New Jersey, Senator Barack Obama (D) won the 15 electoral votes for President with 57 percent of the popular vote (2,062,583) over the Senator John McCain who received 1,534,718 votes (42 percent). Independent Ralph Nader received 1 percent of the vote and independent Bob Barr received 0.2 percent of the vote. Nationwide with 95 percent reporting, Sen. Obama garnered 52 percent of the 119 million votes cast compared to 46 percent for Sen. McCain.

Democrats increased their majority control of the 100-member Senate on Tuesday, by winning at least 56 seats with four more contests yet to be decided in close races in Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota and Georgia.

Incumbent U.S Sen. Frank Lautenberg for New Jersey (for the past 26 years, except for a two year hiatus) breezed to reelection for a fifth term of six years over his Republican opponent Dick Zimmer. Mr. Lautenberg received 1.8 million votes (56 percent) compared to Mr. Zimmer’s 1.4 million votes (44 percent).

In the 435 member House of Representatives, Democrats won 251 seats and are leading in five. Republicans won 171 seats and are leading in six. After all contests are settled, Democrats could have a net gain of up to 20 seats. Two Louisiana seats won't be decided until December because hurricanes postponed their primaries until Tuesday.

Democrats won 7 of the 11 Governors seats up for election, capturing Washington, North Carolina, Missouri, Montana, West Virgina, New Hampshire and Delaware. Republicans won governorships in Indiana, Vermont, North Dakota and Utah.

In the race locally for Congress in the Seventh District, State Senator Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County defeated Asw. Linda Stender of Fanwood. Mr. Lance received 51 percent of the votes (142,004), Mrs. Stender received 42 percent (116,171) and Independent candidate Michael Hsing received 6 percent (15,826). Independents Dean Greco received 3,008 votes and Thomas Abrams was at 2,408.

Democrats won 8 of the Congressional seats in New Jersey compared to 5 for the Republicans.

In the special election to fill the abandoned seat in the New Jersey 20th Legislative District due to the resignation of former Asm. Neil Cohen (D) of Roselle, who resigned upon being investigated for child pornography charges, Democrat Annette Quijano of Elizabeth easily defeated Republican challenger Linda Gaglione of Union in the heavily Democratic district. Ms. Quijano received 33,677 votes (71 percent) compare to 13,635 votes (29 percent) for Ms. Gaglions.

New Jersey had two public questions on the ballot. Question #1 requiring voter approval for borrowing was approved by 57 percent. Question #2 to change the Constitution for selecting certain judges was defeated by 55 percent against.

In Union County, voter turnout was approximately 70 percent with 209,380 votes cast from 299,762 registered voters in a population of approximately 515,000. County voters favored Barak Obama (D) by 63.5 percent compared to 35.6 percent for John McCain (R). They favored Sen. Lautenberg (D) by 61.3 percent compared to Dick Zimmer’s (R) 36.8 percent. County voters favored Leonard Lance (R) with 49.7 percent to Linda Stender’s (D) 45.1 percent for Congress.

In the Union County race for the three Freeholder seats, incumbent Democrats swept to victory over their Republican opponents by substantial margins. Victors Angel Estrada of Elizabeth with 100,372, Nancy Ward of Linden with 99,393 and Rick Proctor of Rahway with 97,368 defeated John Russitano of Westfield with 62,599, Michael Yakubov of Roselle Park with 61,482 and Joseph Franchino of Berkeley Heights with 61,386 votes.

In municipal races for Union County, New Jersey, the results are as follows:

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times and the League of Women Voters will sponsor a candidates forum on Thursday evening, October 23, 2008, for those running for Mayor of Scotch Plains and for those seeking the open seat on the Township Council. The forum, which will be televised and recorded for rebroadcast on TV-34, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the council chambers and run for about 75 minutes. This is the only date set for the forum. No other dates will be considered. All candidates are invited to participate and are urged today to set aside the evening of Oct. 23 for this event. The ground rules and format will be similar to forums held in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, with questions, answers and rebuttals rotated between candidates of each party and time seta side for closing statements from each candidate. As in 2000 and 2004, the two candidates for township council will spend 20-30 minutes answering questions before the two mayoral candidates spend about 35-45 minutes answering questions. Suggestions for topics and/or questions are welcome and can be sent to press@goleader.com.

Public Question
1:
Voters Must Approve State Authority
Bonds Payable From State Appropriations (A Yes vote would require
voter approval of bonds and close the current loophole around the
Constitution).projected to
pass/fail

Public Question 2:
Amend the Constitution to permit selection and appointment of
certain judges by Statue rather than as currently required by the
Constitution ( A Yes vote would change the Constitution to permit
this).
xxx - projected to
pass/fail